Seth Brown

@risingpun.bsky.social

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Freelance writer/humorist

My free semi-monthly newsletter has bad puns, jokes in parentheses, and very rarely, insightful commentary:

https://buttondown.email/RisingPun

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Gotta say, today's Eagle article is a rare treat for me, because usually when I want to be in the paper, I have to write the article myself.

Seth Brown's 'The Pun Also Rises' humor columns win 2024 National Press Club Journalism Awardwww.berkshireeagle.com National Press Club President Emily Wilkins on Friday announced the winners of the club's prestigious annual awards, among them The Angele Gingras Humor Award. Seth Brown won for a selection

Delighted to announce that I have won this year's Angele Gingras Humor Award from the National Press Club ( @PressClubDC )! I believe this means that laughing at my terrible puns is now federally mandated. www.press.org/newsroom/new...

New York Times, Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio win awards in National Press Club journalism contestwww.press.org WASHINGTON, June 28, 2024 - National Press Club President Emily Wilkins today announced the winners of the prestigious National Press Club Journalism Awards. Outlets across the country ranging from sm...

These scenes from a Facebook design meeting are totally real, by which I mean, I really made them up and then wrote them down so you can understand why Facebook is how it is. www.berkshireeagle.com/opinion/colu...

Scenes from a Facebook design meetingwww.berkshireeagle.com Many people these days are touting the power of artificial intelligence, but they forget how much more can be accomplished with natural stupidity.

Wisdom from Neil Gaiman. And as a ghostwriter, I've even helped a few clients write their first book.

Dead is the only age that's too late to start being an author.

Obviously nothing confirms your manliness like a quiz on the Internet: www.berkshireeagle.com/opinion/colu...

Quiz: How manly are you?www.berkshireeagle.com There’s a lot of talk these days about what a “real man” is, so if you’re wondering just how manly you are, take this brief 10-question quiz and find out.

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Libraries are one of the most radical social institutions we have, because they’re based on the idea that *everyone* has the right to information, for free. It’s also what makes them crucial to democracy. I will never stop yelling about this!

Poor people use libraries. Rich people shut them down because they don't *want* poor people to read.

If you'd like to learn more about how Private Equity destroys companies like Red Lobster, or if you just like puns, then you'll like this week's column:

Private equity FAQwww.berkshireeagle.com As you may have heard, the recent Red Lobster bankruptcy and subsequent closures were largely caused by private equity and endless shrimp. So today, Professor McSeth is here to answer

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Whenever we find out another SCOTUS Justice is an Election Denier the Oompa Loompas should come out and sing a little judgmental song

Come for the complaints about exercise, stay for the Hemingway puns! www.berkshireeagle.com/opinion/colu...

A writerly physique: Physical fitness the Heming-waywww.berkshireeagle.com If regular people aim to be "fit as a fiddle," writers are probably closer to "fit as a glass harmonica" — which is to say, reasonably stable as long as

If your relationship doesn't have enough arguing, I can heartily recommend the cooperative video game It Takes Two: www.berkshireeagle.com/opinion/colu...

It takes two: How to destroy your relationship with cooperative video gameswww.berkshireeagle.com I've played hundreds of games about killing people with swords and guns, I continue to abhor violence in real life. But after a few hours playing a game about a

Take a look at the Bard's first drafts, and say, "Booyah!" to Shakespeare:

Upon review of Shakespeare's first drafts, a fine editor hath hewww.berkshireeagle.com When scholars discovered the early text of "Hamlet" known as the "First Quarto," most were unimpressed with the quality of work they found. Here are some other (made up) first

AI may be generating fake headlines about Iran to post to Twitter, but all in all it's basically just Clippy's Revenge.

AI has come a long way since Clippy, the earnest but irritating word processing assistant. More convincing, still wrongwww.berkshireeagle.com Many of us grew up on a less convincing AI that made semi-educated guesses all the time, and its name was Clippy. But it wasn't nearly as convincing as today's

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Seems kind of fucked up that Republicans can revive laws willy nilly from 1864 to ban abortion but Democrats can’t figure out how to tax rich people like we did from 1940-1985

My latest column, with apologies to Samuel Beckett:

Waiting for cease-fire: A tragicomedy in one actwww.berkshireeagle.com Staring at a TV screen showing images of the continued bombing and destruction in Gaza, our heroes patiently wait for an end to the war.

Dispiriting the wide number of "political issues" this seems to sum up these days.

You can read my latest newsletter just in time for the last two hours of International Women's Day! Or you can wait and read it later, or never, I'm not the boss of you.

[Seth Says] March Times Onbuttondown.email How is it March already? I'd already lost my time sense years ago, but now it's completely gone. Of course, it's also true that I have nothing approaching a...

If you have never cleaned your dishwasher filter -- or indeed, didn't realize your dishwasher has a filter -- then I have some bad news (but a good column) for you:

All washed up: A tale of dishwasher dysfunctionwww.berkshireeagle.com The dishwasher's failure to do its only job leads down a frustrating path of non-solutions, from vinegar to filter clearning. The solution was simple: call for help.

Where's B.J. Blazkowicz when you need him?

Trump's party: “Nazis appeared to find a friendly reception at the Conservative Political Action Conference this year. Throughout the conference, racist extremists, some of whom had secured official CPAC badges, openly mingled with conference attendees & espoused antisemitic conspiracy theories.”

Nazis mingle openly at CPAC, spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories and finding allieswww.nbcnews.com The presence of the individuals has been a persistent issue at CPAC, and in previous years, conference organizers have ejected well known nazis and white supremacists, such as Nick Fuentes.

There's a killer on the loose, so watch out for Johnny Murderface:

Be afraid, for Johnny Murderface walks among uswww.berkshireeagle.com Many of society's most pressing issues become easier to understand through the scholarly lens of, "Imagine there's this guy named Johnny Murderface ... ."

It's getting to the point where you can only imagine how a University in a heavily right-wing state might draft a statement for Black History Month. I've also imagined how that meeting might go, and it's my latest column:

www.berkshireeagle.com

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THE PROBLEM: Most forms of energy are harming the environment THE SOLUTION: Switch to alternative forms of renewab... THE PROBLEM: Hold on, I have an idea, what if we made invisible valueless money that eats electricity THE SOLUTION: ...what? THE PROBLEM: Also I have this plagiarism machine

A brief satirical Superman story for the modern world:

Seth Brown: Our schools are fraught with peril. Can our superhero, GovernMan, save the day?www.berkshireeagle.com Another exciting episode of GovernMan, who can save or destroy careers and lives with a few strokes of a pen. And who, disguised mild-mannered civilian Bill Fred, talks a lot

My last column of the year is heavily spiced with puns:

Seth Brown: Season(ing)'s Greetings for those who want to spice things upwww.berkshireeagle.com If variety is the spice of life, then maybe life needs a variety of spice.

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The results from the world’s largest Universal Basic Income study are now in. Findings: “A monthly UBI empowered recipients and did not create idleness. They invested, became more entrepreneurial, and earned more. The common concern of “laziness” never materialized.”

Early findings from the world’s largest UBI study | GiveDirectlywww.givedirectly.org Money always helps, but for the poorest, one large lump sum can last a long time. A long-term universal basic income also looks promising.

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Possibly controversial opinion: of all the ways of conveying information and opinion on the internet, video is by far the least efficient and effective. If you've got four hours of material, write a freaking long-form essay.

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a note to Washington Post readers: On Dec. 7, we ask you to respect our walkout by not crossing the picket line: For 24 hours, please do not engage with any Post content. That includes our print + online news stories, podcasts, videos, games and recipes.

A letter to our readersdocs.google.com

If, in the fleeting hours of November, you'd like to read something about gratitude and also butt dials, here's my latest newsletter:

[Seth Says] Gratitude: The Lonely Journeytinyletter.com A weird thing about gratitude is that it sounds like "Grrr, attitude!", which is sort of the opposite of what it means. But that's not really what I had on my mind, that's just another random thoug

My latest newsletter discusses the sinking feeling of wondering if it's all getting worse -- and also Dave Chappelle, but not for the reason you think:

[Seth Says] Never Don't Not Stoptinyletter.com You can tell I'm not an optimist because I use a quadruple negative. *(Clearly I need one more negative, making it quintessential.) (Hi Five!)* There's a joke I saw some time ago about a teacher s

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And, candidly, I do not like it! www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | I’m starting to think Donald Trump is sounding like Hitler on purposewww.washingtonpost.com ‘Don’t worry,’ people keep saying. Trump did just promise to “root out” the “vermin” internal enemies in our country, but he only MIGHT be the next president.

This week's column is filled with great Halloween costume ideas for the extremely silly:

Seth Brown: Halloween costume corner, 2023 editionwww.berkshireeagle.com If you're a "Star Wars" fan who isn't satisfied by a simple Chewbacca costume, then we've got just the costume for you.